Chapter 25: Waiting Room Worries
Sorry for the wait. Sometimes it feels like my brain is trying to run Windows 10 on an old '99 Mac. I'm surprised it didn't take me longer, honestly. Here's some extra length for your troubles (I think this is probably the longest chapter I've written so far). Also, if it's not obvious, I have absolutely no medical knowledge, and limited patience for extensive research. That is to say, some things are probably not accurate. Enjoy anyway.
I can't breathe… Everything hurt, and Shinichi couldn't see anything even though he opened his eyes.
Where am I…?
He was vaguely aware of something big and warm on top of him. It was very heavy. He slipped back into foggy sleep.
He drifted in and out of consciousness catching snatches of conversations he couldn't understand. The voices sounded so far away, and he was struck by the memory of that night at Tropical Land.
His eyes flew open. He only saw inky black, and the warm, heavy thing was still crushing him.
Not dead… I'm not dead, he reassured himself. But where was he…?
"There's another one over here! He's still breathing!" yelled someone close by. "Someone give me a hand with this!" Footsteps… Something shifted on top of him, and his eyes stung as a harsh light shone into them.
"Two of them—there's two of them!" shouted the voice from earlier. A teenager and a boy!" Muffled shouts from elsewhere. There were sirens coming from… somewhere.
Shinichi blinked once. Twice. Recall came suddenly, painfully, and his eyes widened in realization. Ran was—? His eyes travelled up to the warm thing that was still on top of him.
His own, adult face was the first thing he saw: colorless, with a dark, ominous-looking streak caked on to it. A metallic scent mixed with the smell of dust and grime, and for a moment, he forgot how to breathe.
"You're awake! Little boy? Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"
He tried to speak, but could only manage a dry groan as he opened and closed his mouth in vain. There was too much dust—a thick layer of it coated his throat—and he struggled for air, his ribs being squeezed as they were.
"It's going to be okay," said the stranger. "We'll have this off as fast as we can, alright?"
The wall… His eyes snapped back to the lifeless face above him. Ran…? She was still warm, and after calming himself down, he found he could feel her heart beating against him. As his eyes focused, he was relieved to see the colorless complexion was mostly just dust and dirt caked on her face. But that dark streak was definitely blood.
As he took in the situation, the presence of others around him made themselves known. It took three men to lift the piece of wall that had Ran and him trapped. The sudden rush of oxygen made him dizzy, and as he coughed and choked on his dust-coated throat, Ran was carefully removed and put on a stretcher that seemed to have materialized out of nowhere. He reached out, helplessly watching as they hauled her away.
"… nothing serious, but I think he's in shock," he heard someone say. He tried to tell them he wasn't in shock, but when he looked up to do so, he realized the sky was dark. His eyes grew wide.
How long were we under there…? He coughed again, the layer of dust stubbornly remaining, and as he only vaguely noticed someone was lifting him up, his vision swam and grew dark again.
He woke up in a white room.
He sat bot upright with a loud gasp and wildly looked around His eyes landed on a startled nurse holding a clipboard.
A… hospital…?
The nurse smiled warmly at him.
"You're awake," she said, the smile still there. "Do you feel pain anywhere?" He cleared his throat.
"I'm… fine," he rasped. "Just a little sore."
"Well, the doctor says you're fine except for a few mild cuts and bruises. Once I'm done here, I'll bring you some water." He nodded in thanks and cleared his throat again.
"That…" He swallowed a lump in his throat. "W-what happened to the niisan I was with…?" She gave him an apologetic smile.
"I don't know, but I can ask for you. He's not in this ward."
"Right," he said quietly as a strange, calm panic set into his nerves. "Thanks."
"I'm almost done," she said lightly, oblivious to Shinichi's internal turmoil. "But I do need some information from you, since it doesn't look like your brother had your medical card with him."
What…? Shinichi stared blankly at her. She blinked in confusion.
"They found his wallet on the ground where you two were trapped," she prompted. "We've already called the guardian listed on his card, so you don't need to worry about that." Then he understood. He had pulled out his teenage wallet when he was still planning to ask Haibara for an antidote. He must have accidentally brought it with him instead of the one he used as Conan.
"O-oh," he said, laughing nervously. "H-he's—he's not my brother."
"What? But—you two look so similar!" she exclaimed in surprise. He coughed awkwardly.
"Ahahaha, yeah, that's… He's my cousin, and there's some strong genes, I guess?" he said lamely. Thankfully, she bought the pitiful explanation and he proceeded to give her his child information, and made sure she knew Agasa was Conan's representative guardian as well as his 'cousin'. She left briefly only to return with the water she had promised. When she finally left, he sighed heavily, sagging back against the pillow behind him.
She's not in this ward? Was it very serious? He chewed on the inside of his cheek, going over the memory of the wall falling. Where had it hit, exactly? Since she'd shielded him from the impact, he hadn't seen it. He tasted iron, and sighed again. It was pointless jumping to conclusions until the nurse came back with Ran's whereabouts.
He glared at the glass of water the nurse left, and bitterly downed it as if it was the cause of his discontent. He anxiously fidgeted with the blanket while he waited for the nurse to return, silently praying for good news. At least the dust was finally gone from his throat.
When the nurse returned, she was with a doctor who bore a serious expression. Before Shinichi could react, the doctor stretched out a hand in greeting.
"Good morning, Edogawa-san," he said politely. Shinichi shook the proffered hand. "I'm doctor Kido, the supervising physician in charge of your cousin, Kudo-san."
Shinichi carefully made sure his expression didn't expose the discomfort he felt at that statement. He was 'Kudo-san,' and Ran was Ran. Of course, he couldn't say that out loud, so he just silently gritted his teeth.
"I-is Shinichi-niichan okay?" he asked, trying to sound like the child he looked like. He didn't have to feign the worried tone in his voice as he spoke.
"Don't worry, his condition is stable," said the doctor. He then coughed awkwardly, as if he just realized he was speaking to a child. "He came out with surprisingly few injuries, actually, given the size of the wall. He does have a head injury, and is currently unconscious, but he's in no danger." The nurse gave the man a flat look and berated him for continuing to use such big words with a child, but Shinichi wasn't paying her any attention.
Ran was still unconscious. He swallowed, hard. Even though the man had said she wasn't in any danger, he still didn't feel good about it. After all, if it hadn't been for him, she'd still be at his house, waiting for him to come back.
"Your doctor says you're good to go," said the nurse, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I can take you to see your cousin while you wait for your guardian. He should be here soon."
"Y-yeah, thanks," he said distractedly as the nurse motioned towards a small table next to his hospital bed. His clothes were clean and neatly folded on top, causing him to look down and belatedly realize he was in a hospital gown. He wasted no time in getting dressed before he followed the nurse to wherever Ran was.
He walked behind the nurse in a daze, a fog that refused to leave clouding his brain. She stopped at the entrance of a different ward, and explained the situation to one of the nurses stationed there. Shinichi was handed over to a new nurse, who kindly guided him to the room Ran was in. She opened the door. Despite his best efforts to compose himself, his breath caught in his chest when he looked in.
Ran was lying on the hospital bed, unconscious. The steady beeping of a monitor next to the bed alerted him of a normal pulse. He stared at the monitor for a moment, mouth dry. The nurse gently nudged the small of his back, guiding him towards the bed.
"I need to close the door," she said. "His guardian requested complete privacy." He could only nod as he allowed himself to be pushed forward. The nurse closed the door and strode forward to check the monitor, jotting something down in the clipboard she carried. She gave Shinichi a small smile before leaving him alone in the room with Ran.
Shinichi waited for the click of the closing door before he approached the bed. He looked Ran over, trying to assess how badly she was hurt. With a surge of hesitant relief, the only thing visible was the bandage around her head. There were no casts that he could see, nor did her breathing appear to be hampered in any way. She was just… asleep. He reached out and gently squeezed her hand.
"You're really… too reckless, you know?" he whispered, voice shaky. He drew circles in her palm with his thumb. "Thanks for saving me."
The steady beeping of the monitor was her only reply.
xXx
"SHINICHI!"
The professor arrived an hour after Shinichi had awoken in that hospital room, barging into Ran's room in a panic.
"Shhh!" shushed the nurse, giving the man a stern warning glare. Agasa hurriedly mumbled out an apology, and the door closed once again. He turned back around and spotted Shinichi sitting by the bed. He blinked in confusion.
"S-Shinichi? You're okay…" He frowned as his attention turned to the one on the bed. "… Ran-kun?!" Shinichi let out a morbid chuckle.
"Why are you surprised? It's not like the hospital staff knew she wasn't me."
"I… er…" Agasa coughed awkwardly. "I just got the call, and I guess my mind went blank." He stared meaningfully at the shrunken teen. "And they only mentioned your real name—so…" Shinichi waved him off with a sigh.
"You don't have to explain yourself," he said wearily. "It was an emergency call, and you panicked." He gave the man a smile that ended up looking more like a grimace. Agasa hummed absently as his nerves finally settled, and he gave Shinichi a sharp, worried look.
"What happened?" he asked, tone not quite stern, but definitely a bit harsh—it was to be expected. The sudden call from a hospital in Nagano had nearly given the man a heart attack. Shinichi retold the events leading up to his passing out with an increasingly numb detachment. He kept his gaze on Ran, hoping she'd wake up while he was talking, but she remained still.
"That… Why didn't you at least send her away?!" exclaimed the professor, pulling helplessly at the little hair he had left.
"You know what she's like!" snapped Shinichi. "If I hadn't let her come, she'd have secretly followed me anyway! With that in mind, it was just safer to be able to see where she was!" He rubbed his temples at the headache that built up behind his eyes. Safer… Right. At this point, he wished they'd just gone home. Even if they'd still be in the dark for a few things, he could still follow their movements on Kid's traffic footage, and Ran wouldn't have gotten hurt. He sighed heavily.
"It doesn't matter now, anyway. It's already happened." He looked up at Agasa, who, while he was still angry, had cooled off a bit with the realization that Shinichi was right. "Anyway, can you ask for the medical report? They…" He grimaced as he looked down at his small fists resting on equally small knees. "They won't let me see it."
"Right," said Agasa with a worried glance at Ran. "I'll… I'll be right back." He quickly left the room, and left Shinichi staring absently at the heart monitor.
Like the doctor had said earlier, the machine's readings all pointed to Ran's condition being stable. But that's all it did. The doctor mentioned a head injury, but without the medical report, he didn't know how serious it was. No matter what he told the staff, they wouldn't give the report to a seven-year-old. Part of him wanted to scream out that he was seventeen, but the rest of him managed to wait patiently for the professor, who was representing as Kudo Shinichi's legal guardian.
It wasn't fair.
He knew what they all saw, and he hated it.
Before he could follow that train of thought too deeply, the professor reentered the room, a stapled copy of the report in his hands. He straightened up as the door clicked shut, taking in the man's pale complexion and concerned frown.
"Well?" he asked impatiently. Agasa handed the papers over to him and cleared his throat.
"She's got a concussion" said the professor, expression grim. "And a fractured skull." The blood drained from Shinichi's face, and he quickly skimmed through the contents on the pages.
Closed linear fracture, located near the right parietal bone. Small lacerations on forehead… He frowned and turned the page. Suspected swelling in the brain, but no visible brain injuries…
He sighed. Some swelling would account for the continued unconsciousness and the fracture itself was one of the least threatening, thankfully. She was going to have the world's worst headache when she woke up, and he couldn't help but feel guilty about that. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I guess now we just have to wait for her to wake up…" he mumbled. The professor could only offer a helpless smile since Shinichi was right. He was so tired of being right. He hesitantly slipped off the chair, glancing between Ran and Agasa.
"Toilet," he muttered before Agasa could ask. The man just nodded and took the vacated seat as the small teen crept out into the ward hallway. He passed by a set of elevators on his way to the restroom, and a ding behind him signaled someone getting off on this floor. He paid it no mind until a familiar voice swore loudly enough to bring the nurses' wrath down on him. Shinichi spun around.
Kansuke was glowering venomously at him.
"Y-Yamato-keibu?!" he said after a few beats of stunned silene. "What are you doing here?!"
"That's what I want to ask," growled the inspector. "The chief's got me doing a routine check on the building collapse victims." His eye narrowed dangerously. "Thought you left town yesterday. Don't tell me you had something to do with this?"
"No, no!" said Shinichi, quickly holding his hands up. "We got caught up in the collapse on the side of the building. I only just woke up this morning." No need to tell him that they had actually been inside, since it was true that they'd only gotten trapped when they left. "… Do you know what caused it?"
"Kansuke sighed heavily after looking Shinichi up and down. He didn't even seem to notice the intention behind the second question, thankfully.
"It was just an old, structurally unsound building that the government took too long to take down," he grumbled. "At that point, I wouldn't be surprised if a gust of wind had knocked it down."
Shinichi processed the information, careful not to let his expression show anything. The routine victim inspection was just a formality, but this meant that the police didn't suspect anything other than poor management and unfortunate timing. To be fair, the bomb had been very small, and was probably made specifically to look like rubble afterwards.
Telling the police about the existence of a bomb would only endanger anyone who tried to look for evidence of it. As long as there were no casualties, he supposed it might be better to keep that information to himself. Speaking of which—
"But why are you the one questioning the victims?" he asked, trying to sound just casually curious. "Isn't that a job more fit for Yui-san or someone else? No one died, did they?" He tried not to wince at the straightforwardness of the last question, but it was too late to take it back. Just act natural, and maybe he won't notice…
Luck seemed to be on his side for once. He watched the inspector heave a sigh as he swept his good hand over his hair, grimacing at whatever thoughts had crossed his mind.
"No, no one died—it'd be more than just me if that had happened. And as for why I'm the one doing this…" He grimaced again, idly scratching his nose. "… I might've said something that pissed off the chief…" Shinichi leveled a flat, unimpressed stare on the man in front of him. Kansuke coughed before getting back on topic.
"A-anyway, that's not important. After you I've got one more person to question, and they're in this ward, so…"
"Then you mean my cousin," said Shinichi quickly. "He's still unconscious, so you can't talk to him." Kansuke clicked his tongue, looking Shinichi over again.
"You seem none the worse for wear, though."
"… Because he shielded me," said Shinichi bitterly, voice barely loud enough for the inspector to hear.
Kansuke was silent for a while, studying the small boy in front of him who was staring at the floor as if the tiles could help relieve some of the guilt he felt.
"You were with him the whole time?" Kansuke asked softly. Shinichi nodded, unsure where this line of questioning would go. "And he can't tell me anything more than you can?" The teen looked up at that, and was met with an unusually soft gaze from the man in front of him.
"… That's right…"
"In that case, I'll just get your statement, since it'll be the same as your cousin's," he said, sweeping his hand over his face. Now that Shinichi was looking, he noticed Kansuke looked more haggard than usual—a feat he hadn't realized was possible, given the man's usual appearance. Had he been up all night gathering statements by himself?
What exactly did you do to piss off your boss that much…? He thought. He wasn't sure he even wanted to know.
"I'll need to see your cousin, though. Just to at least look like I'm doing my job," he said with a hint of a smirk. "But I promise I won't try to wake him," he added when Shinichi didn't react. Shinichi, who was still wondering about Kansuke's boss, quickly snapped out of it to give the man an answer.
"Ah, yeah—that's… that's fine. Should I take you to he-his room?"
"Nah, I'll ask the nurses after we're done talking. 'Proper procedure,' and all that." Which meant that the chief of police could potentially call and check up on Kansuke's work.
"… What did you do?" he asked before he could stop himself. The man scowled.
"None of your business," he snapped.
Shinichi wisely backed off, and quickly gave his statement, answering all of the questions Kansuke put to him as truthfully as he safely could. The inspector finally waved him off and headed for the nurses' station, and Shinichi watched for a few seconds longer before finally heading off to the restrooms.
After making sure no one else was present, he picked a stall in the back and sat down, hiding his face in his hands. He'd have stayed that way for a while if he hadn't felt his phone in his jacket pocket pressing against his side.
He absently pulled it out and looked numbly at it, not surprised in the least when he saw the cracked screen. It was off—either it was out of batteries, or broken. Or perhaps, the nurses had turned it off when they changed his clothes. Not that it mattered much.
After a moment of hesitation, he pressed the power button. He was, thankfully, in a place where it couldn't cause any trouble, but if it even still worked, he'd have to turn it back off before leaving the restroom. It powered on with no issues, and he was mildly surprised to see the battery only half-full. He'd expected it to be more drained than that. He shook his head to clear it as the first of an onslaught of notifications made the cracked screen blur with all of the vibrating. With a frown, he pulled up his messages and missed calls.
The first few calls and mails were, predictably, from Agasa, presumably as an attempt to get a hold of him after the hospital called. Or before. Since the man himself was here, it was a moot point. He scrolled past those. He had just enough time to see the name on the majority of what was left before his phone rang, that same name taking up the screen. He answered it.
"… Hattori…"
"Kudo! Where the hell are you?! I've been calling for hours!" A faint, tired smile tugged at the corners of Shinichi's mouth as he listened to the irate yelling. It was sort of grounding.
"I'm in Nagano," he said quietly.
"Nagano? What th—why are ya in Nagano?!" Shinichi chuckled dryly and cleared his throat.
"I had something to look into. I should've been back by evening yesterday, but..." He hesitated, wondering how much he should tell his impulsive friend. He caved in a second later, knowing full well that if he said nothing, Heiji wouldn't forgive him. "I'm in the hospital."
"WHAT?!"
"I'll tell you the details later—I'm not in a good place to talk about… certain things." His paranoid caution was justified as he heard the restroom door opening.
"Dude, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. But R—my cousin is unconscious." He emphasized the word 'cousin,' tipping Heiji off that he wasn't alone. Heiji caught on immediately, and swore.
"Neechan?"
"Yeah."
"When're ya comin' back?" Something about the way Heiji asked that made Shinichi narrow his eyes suspiciously.
"… Hattori," he started slowly. He could almost hear the other teen's eyes widen. "You aren't at my place, right?" The sheepish laugh was all the answer he needed. He sighed.
"To be completely fair, I didn't know you were outta town. An' if yer at the hospital, callin' ahead of time wouldn't have done me much good, anyway." He had a point.
Shinichi heard whoever was in the restroom with him pace along the stalls, probably looking for a preferred one. They were all empty, so they shouldn't be waiting for anyone.
"Look, I can't really talk right now, but if you're at my house you can do me a favor."
"Sure," said the Osakan amiably. "Just keep me updated, 'kay?"
"Okay. I'll send you a text with directions. I have to go now." He hung up before Heiji could say anything, and quickly sent a message requesting for Heiji to find and track the woman from the other building using Kid's traffic footage. He hesitated, and then sent a second request to track Gin and Vodka to wherever they'd gone afterwards. He wanted to check that footage himself, but he had no idea how long he was going to be here.
He probably should have expected the string of curses texted back, which of course were followed up by another expressing excitement over finally getting to see the crows himself. He smiled briefly before powering his phone off and left the stall feeling like a weight on his shoulders had lifted.
The person who had entered the restroom while Shinichi was on the phone was still pacing. A man in his early thirties shouldn't look like a nervous wreck, but given this ward was in the trauma center, he supposed the man's appearance was warranted. He hurriedly left to let the man break down in peace and headed back to Ran's room.
He spotted Kansuke reentering the elevator, and the man locked eyes with him. A grim smile and a lax salute was the only goodbye Shinichi got before the elevator doors closed.
Agasa looked up sharply as Shinichi opened the door, but relaxed when he saw who had come in. They both heaved identical, weary sighs and stared at Ran. The only thing left to do was wait.
xXx
After nearly three days and no sign of Ran regaining consciousness, it was decided to transfer her to Beika Hospital, which had more resources as well as being close to home for all of them. Shinichi had instructed Agasa to request the utmost privacy and secrecy, with the idea that making it known that "Kudo Shinichi" was hospitalized could cause some very unwanted attention, not just for him but for the hospital as well.
Since Shinichi's name and line of work were basically household information (even if he'd been out of the media and considered missing or dead for months), the staff was more than willing to oblige. Some of the nurses were probably hoping for autographs once "he" woke up. Shinichi had forced himself to ignore the excited whispering, silently repeating Ran's name to himself every time someone mentioned his name. It didn't really help with relieving the bitter feeling in his stomach that he and Agasa were the only ones there who knew the truth.
A day after the transfer, Shinichi found himself being dragged back to school by the Detective Boys. Not even Haibara could persuade them to give him a few days. He wasn't sick and he was barely hurt, so there was no arguing. He relented only with the understanding that he could not hang out after school, and no amount of pouting would get him to change his mind.
It was, all in all, a pretty tense, if boring, week at school. The children went with him to the hospital only once, but since the comatose teenager was—as far as they knew—more or less a stranger to them, they saw little merit in continuing to visit someone who was unable to appreciate the company. Haibara also visited the hospital only once, an unreadable expression on her face as she studied Ran's face. She'd said nothing, but the tenseness in her shoulders spoke volumes.
Heiji visited once as well, having skipped school in the middle of the week to come and personally berate his eastern counterpart for not checking his phone at all. He'd wanted to talk about the footage he'd pulled, but one look at Shinichi's tired face made him back off. He told Shinichi where he stored the footage, stared at Ran for a few minutes, and left just as abruptly as he'd come, promising another visit and a threat for Shinichi to actually start checking his phone at least every night. The smile Shinichi gave him did nothing to lift anyone's spirits.
School, hospital, home, sleep, school, hospital, home, sleep. The routine did nothing to make things better. It bled into Saturday, which he gratefully accepted as more time to be by Ran's side, as if him being there would wake her up sooner.
He was seated next to her bedside, trying to read a book he'd brought from home. He couldn't focus on it very well, but it was a slight change of pace from the ever-increasing feeling of dread that she would never wake up, knowing it was all his fault.
There was movement, immediately followed by a low, pained groan. His head snapped up from the book in his lap, frowning slightly as he looked at her still form and wondered if he'd imagined it. The beeping of the monitor sped up.
"Ran?" His voice was quiet, even to his own ears. Ran's face pinched in discomfort as another groan escaped her, dry and hoarse. A spark of hope lit in Shinichi's chest, and he stared at her expectantly, waiting for her to wake up.
An eye cracked open briefly before closing again, face scrunching up at the harsh fluorescent lights in the room. She slowly started to sit up. Her movements seemed a bit off, but sleeping for a week with a head wound would make anyone move a bit oddly. As she finished sitting up, she hissed sharply through her teeth and gingerly touched the back of her head. He reached out to help steady her.
"Shit," she muttered. Shinichi froze. Did she just…?
No sooner had she cursed, of all things, than her eyes snapped open in shock and confusion. Almost in slow motion, she looked down at herself with a frown that felt… wrong.
That growing dread was back, mounting higher and higher as he watched her study her hands, muttering a confused "What?" He shifted slightly, his book falling to the floor. The noise caught Ran's attention, and her gaze snapped up to him, careful not to move her head too quickly. Their eyes met, and the vague wrongness Shinichi felt intensified as her expression morphed from confusion to shock to fear, and finally suspicion. His blood turned to ice when she spoke.
"Who the hell are you?"